OSGi Alliance and ERTICO Announce Collaboration for 3rd Generation Telematics Development
SAN RAMON, Calif.--Jan. 15, 2003--The Open Service Gateway Initiative (OSGi)(TM) alliance and ERTICO today formally announced their collaboration in the 3rd Generation Telematics (3GT) project, tasked with finding solutions to meet lifecycle requirements of automotive manufacturers in the fast-moving software market.
The conflict between the lifecycles of vehicles and their telematics components is a constant headache to the automotive industry. The OSGi specifications help solve this problem by providing a framework for managing the lifecycle of network-delivered applications. The goal of 3GT is to help establish OSGi-based in-vehicle telematics platforms in the European mass market by ensuring interoperability between the products of different middleware providers, terminal manufacturers and service providers. This will be done by establishing common telematics interfaces for OSGi-based service delivery.
John Barr, President of the OSGi alliance, said, "We were always aware that our work was applicable across a wide range of industries and we're very pleased to be able to work with specialized sector knowledge groups to map our generic capabilities onto specific vertical sector requirements. This is great both for the OSGi alliance and for the 3GT initiative, which doesn't have to re-invent the wheel."
The project draws on the expertise of many leading telematics companies including ACUNIA, BMW, Robert Bosch, C.R.F., Ericsson, Gatespace, Mizar Mediaservice, Adam Opel, PSA Peugeot Citroen, TNO, Vodafone PASSO, Volvo Technology Corporation, Webraska Mobile Technologies and Wirelesscar. The project is co-funded by the European Union's Information Society Research Programme and is expected to last from June 2002 through to November 2003.
Peter Van der Perre, ERTICO Project Manager, said, "3GT is extending OSGi specifications with a new specification for end-to-end telematics service delivery. It extends some of the vehicle specific work that the OSGi alliance has already carried out and concentrates on the remote management of the overall system. The project will test the interoperability aspects of the resulting specifications across five sites managed by carmakers. This will yield rich validation results allowing the 3GT results to be rapidly endorsed by the OSGi alliance."
The next meeting of the 3GT forum will take place on January 23rd, 2003 and representatives of the OSGi alliance will be meeting with the 3GT forum to review the integration of the OSGi specifications into the project prior to this meeting, on the 22nd January 2003.
About The Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi) alliance
The Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi) alliance, established in 1999, is an independent, non-profit corporation consisting of more than 60 leading companies operating in various vertical markets worldwide. The alliance provides the only vendor-neutral, multiple-sourced specification in the industry to deliver and manage multiple applications or services over wide-area networks to local networks and devices. The alliance also works to proliferate these open specifications through the sponsorship of technology, market, and user education programs. The consortium's Web site address is www.OSGi.org.
About ERTICO
ERTICO is a Europe-wide, not-for-profit public/private partnership for ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems and Services) set up in 1991 at the initiative of leading European industrialists, national governments and the European Commission. ERTICO's mission is to promote and support the implementation of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services in Europe, ensuring sustainable mobility, travel satisfaction and high economic returns. By joining ERTICO, organizations can work more effectively together and achieve vital synergies to create a successful European ITS market. For more information about ERTICO, visit its website at www.ertico.com.
Note to Editors: All company, brand and product names may be trademarks that are the sole property of their respective owners.